The Clock That Stopped
by WrathOfTheVikings
Summary: Just before he's about to meet his soulmate, disaster strikes Arthur Kirkland. Thinking that he may never find love, things begin to change by a coincidental meeting...
1. Tragedy and an Act of Kindness

_Everyone on Earth has a small digital clock on their wrist, counting down until the moment that they meet their soulmate. This story follows a young Englishman called Arthur Kirkland, whose day has finally arrived to finally meet his lover._

10 minutes left.  
Arthur glanced anxiously at his wrist, checking how long he had left. He was waiting nervously for his soulmate to appear and to meet them for the first time. He tried to imagine what she'd look like, stunningly beautiful, brilliant figure-  
"No, she's my soulmate. It won't matter what she looks like", he thought  
7 minutes.  
The waiting was killing him, he just wanted to get it over with and meet her so he didn't have to wait here any longer. He worried whether or not he looked alright for the occasion. Wanting to make the moment as perfect as possible, he chose a spot in a small park in the town and sat on a park bench, waiting for her to make an appearance. Arthur wanted to make sure that he made a good first impression, so he was dressed up smart to show what a gentleman he was. But now he felt rather silly, dressed up nice in a public park. But the people around him understood what was about to happen, and they gave him reassuring smiles and thumbs-up as they went past.  
5 minutes.  
Trembling with nerves, he glanced down at the small clock on his wrist and sighed.  
"Not long now", he said quietly to reassure himself  
4 minutes.  
Tapping his foot impatiently on the ground, he looked around for any sign of them.  
Suddenly, a scream fills the air, followed by a screech of tires and a loud thud. Arthur snapped his head in the direction to see what it was. From where he was, he could see that there had just been a car accident.  
"Oh, I hope no one was hurt badly. Maybe she's a doctor or a nurse and she'll arrive in the ambulance", he thought  
Glancing down at his wrist for the millionth time, he paled in horror at what he saw. The clock had stopped at 3 minutes 45 seconds. Arthur brought his other hand up to his mouth in shock.  
Running over to the area of the accident, he looked to see which one was supposed to be his soulmate. The driver was the only one in the vehicle, he was being helped out by a couple of people who were there when the crash happened. He didn't look too badly injured, just a cut on his forehead.  
Arthur's stomach dropped when he saw the other crash victim. Lying in front of the car, was a boy who looked only a little bit younger than Arthur. He had dirty blonde hair, including one part that wouldn't sit properly.  
"No, it can't be him. Where is she?" Arthur thought as he scanned the area for any other casualties, but the only ones were the boy and the driver.  
He cautiously stepped closer to get a proper look at him. The boy's glasses were cracked and knocked squint, nearly falling off and there was a trail of blood dripping from a bad injury on the back of his head. There was no light behind the boy's blue eyes, they stared blankly into nothingness.  
Arthur was confused, to say the least. First of all, he wasn't expecting his soulmate to be male.  
"I never knew I was... I mean, I never really thought about it, but I guess it explains a few things...", he muttered to himself as he studied the boy carefully  
Just to make sure, Arthur pulled back the boy's sleeve to check the clock. It too had stopped at 3 minutes 45 seconds. Another thing that gave it away was in his other hand he held a small bouquet of flowers, that would have been for him if they had gotten the chance to meet.  
No doubt about it, this boy was Arthur's soulmate.  
Arthur felt a slight relief to have finally known who his soulmate was, but suddenly a wave of grief washed over him as he finally came to terms with what had happened. His one and only soulmate was lying dead in front of him.  
Kneeling down and holding the boy close to him, Arthur began to weep. He cried like he had known the boy forever. His whole body shook as he wept for this boy he didn't even know the name of. The paramedics quickly arrived to take the driver and the boy away. As he was placed onto a stretcher, Arthur placed a kiss on the boy's forehead before he was wheeled away into the back of the ambulance to be taken to the morgue.  
For the next few days, Arthur was in a state. He would often find himself crying for no reason, and always seemed to be in some sort of trance. Every so often, he would glance down at his wrist, but it would always be the same. 3 minutes, 45 seconds.

Arthur received word that the boy's funeral was to be held next week. He wanted to go, to pay his respects and say a proper goodbye. Dressing up smart with some clothes to suit the occasion, he left the house. Looking up at the sky, to his dismay he saw that it had begun to rain.  
"It'll only be a short shower. If I run then I could make it without getting soaked through", he said quietly to himself  
He took off. Sprinting down the street, he had only turned the corner when the rain got heavier, lashing down on him. But still he continued to run through the streets to make it to the funeral in time. As the rain had begun to soak it's way through Arthur's coat, he heard a shout from behind him.  
"Monsieur!"  
Pausing and turning around to look at whoever was shouting, he saw a man just outside the door of a small flower shop. The man smiled when he saw that Arthur had stopped and began to make his way over to him. As he got closer, Arthur could define more of his features, like his blond hair that fell to his jaw-line, and his blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the light. Arthur stood for a moment, just watching this man, but then snapped out of this little trance when he began to speak.  
"Here, I think that you may need this", the man said in a strong French accent, holding out the umbrella  
"Thank you", said Arthur, taking the umbrella, "But won't you need it when you go home?"  
"Non, I live in the flat above my shop. You can return it any time, or keep it, it's up to you", the man said with a smile before turning around and walking back to his shop.  
Arthur put up the umbrella, feeling relieved to finally have some shelter from the rain.  
"Ah, wait!" he suddenly realised, "I never got his name"  
But by then, the man had already disappeared back into the shop, and Arthur needed to hurry if he wanted to get to his to-be-soulmate's funeral.  
It had only just started when he arrived.  
Taking a seat at the back of the church, Arthur listened carefully to the boy's family talking about what he was like when he was alive. He learned that the boys name was Alfred F. Jones, and that he was from America. He then listened to different people saying what a brave, wonderful boy he was, and how much he meant to them.  
After the speeches had been made, the coffin was taken out to be lowered into the ground. Arthur watched from a slight distance, he felt that the family might not want to see him there.  
After the coffin had been lowered and the crowd started to disintegrate, Arthur felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a boy that looked just like Alfred, except instead of that bit of hair that wouldn't sit right, this boy had a long curl, and slightly longer hair.  
"Hello", greeted Arthur  
"H-hello"  
The boy spoke softly and quietly, Arthur had to strain to hear him.  
"Who are you?" asked the boy (oh how the tables have turned)  
"I'm Arthur Kirkland, I was supposed to be Alfred's soulmate", replied Arthur  
"Ah, I thought so. I'm Matthew, Alfred's brother"  
"It's nice to meet you. I'm terribly sorry for your loss"  
The boy went quiet for a minute, and Arthur began to worry if he had said the wrong thing, until Matthew suddenly spoke again.  
"He was so excited to meet you, y'know. That morning, he couldn't sit still, always checking his clock and checking if he looked presentable. Did you get to meet him?"  
"No, we still had a couple of minutes left"  
"Oh..." Matthew went quiet again.  
"I wish I had met him"  
"You would have liked him. He could be a bit loud and annoying at times, but I know you two would have been a good pair"  
This time it was Arthur who went quiet. He couldn't help but think of what it would have been like if they had met.  
"I'd better go. I'll see you again sometime, eh?"  
"Yes, I'll see you-" Arthur turned to look at Matthew, but found that he had disappeared as suddenly as he'd arrived.


	2. Shock, Friends and Maple Tea

Arthur decided that it was probably time for him to leave too. By now, the rain had stopped so he just carried the umbrella in the crook of his arm.  
Whilst walking home, he saw the flower shop that the Frenchman worked in. Arthur paused for a minute to get a proper look at the little shop. The lights were off downstairs and not a lot could be seen, showing that it was closed, but there was a light glowing through one of the two windows upstairs, which meant that he was home. Arthur remembered that he still had the man's umbrella, but he thought that it may seem rude to just show up at his house at a time like this.  
"I'll return it to him tomorrow", Arthur murmured to himself as he began walking again

It had been a long day for him, and he wanted just to be in his bed as soon as possible. It wasn't long before he was home again. Arthur cooked himself a badly burnt dinner, which seemed to always happen because of his atrocious cooking skills, though by now he was used to it and couldn't taste it. He then went through to his bedroom and began to undress.  
As he was lifting his shirt over his head, something peculiar caught his eye, causing him to do a double take. Looking down at his wrist, Arthur got a severe shock when he saw that the clock was at 0. It definitely wasn't like that yesterday, for Arthur had made a habit of checking at least once per day.  
At first, he was speechless. On one hand, he was immensely happy due to the fact that he had met his soulmate today. On the other hand, he was frustrated because he had met two people today and hadn't bothered to check his clock at the time, so he had no idea who it was. Arthur was torn between jumping for joy and throwing his chair out of the window.  
"But who could it be? I met that French bloke today, but then I also met Matthew...", Arthur thought aloud  
"I suppose there's no point in getting so worked up over it tonight, I'll try to figure it out in the morning", he said as he finished getting ready and clambered into bed, before soon falling asleep.

As the sunlight coming through the window found it's way into Arthur's eyes, he awoke and sleepily sat up.  
"What time is it?" he asked before yawning and glancing down to his bedside table where his alarm clock sat.  
"BLOODY HELL!" yelled Arthur  
The time displayed was 8:45, he was supposed to be awake by 8:00 so he could get to work in time. He shot out of bed and frantically tried to pull on his clothes. After sorting himself out, he dashed through to his front door  
"No time for tea this morning", Arthur sadly sighed, "I'll just have to have a cup during my break"  
Leaving his apartment, he ran down the stairs of the building and was soon sprinting down the street, dodging other pedestrians as he went.  
On his way, he passed the flower shop from yesterday, but he didn't have the time to stop and look at it right now. He did manage to get a quick glance at it as he ran past, and as he did, he saw that the owner of the shop was looking out of the window. They held eye-contact for a split second before Arthur had ran past, and he could have sworn that the Frenchman had smiled at him.  
As Arthur got closer to his work, the last thing to hold him up was the traffic lights. He and a small crowd of other people were waiting at one side of the road for the traffic to stop. Shuffling impatiently on the spot, he took off like a rocket once the lights had changed. Running along the pavement, he turned the corner and was finally at his workplace.  
The library looked small on the outside, but on the inside it was huge, with rows after rows on both floors of bookshelves full of all different kinds of books. Arthur stumbled through the door where he immediately met one of his co-workers. The younger male was in the middle of sorting through a shelf when Arthur had arrived, but had now stopped what he was doing to talk to Arthur.  
"Late again Arthur?" his co-worker said in a strong Norwegian accent  
"Hello Lukas", panted Arthur, out of breath from the running  
"Oh Arthur, you're here at last!" came a cheery voice  
Arthur's other co-worker, a Spanish man named Antonio, appeared from one of the rows, carrying a stack of books.  
It wasn't unusual for Arthur to be late to work, but his friends weren't really bothered by it. It had gotten to the point where they joked about it, and were surprised if he was ever there on time.  
"It's my alarm clock, there's something wrong with it, it never wakes me up at the right time", said Arthur with a slight laugh  
"Speaking of clocks, how did it go with your soulmate?" asked Antonio  
Arthur's heart skipped a beat. He had forgotten that Antonio and Lukas didn't know what had happened on that day.  
"It went fine", rushed Arthur, "I'd better get started"  
The English gentleman quickly departed from the group to go and find something to do. Lukas studied him carefully as he went, he could tell that there was more to it than Arthur was letting on.  
"I wonder what's happened to him?" said Antonio with a confused expression  
Lukas didn't say anything, he was thinking about what could have possibly happened.  
"Lukas? Any ideas?"  
"...It didn't go as planned, that's all I can say for now", said Lukas before getting back to work  
Antonio was still a bit confused, but he decided to try and talk to Arthur about it during his break.

Barely any people had been in the library, but there was still plenty of work to be done. A lot of books had been returned, and they needed to be put back on the shelves in their correct spots. All three males were busy working until just an hour before lunch time when they heard the door open, followed by the sound of a lot of footsteps and a couple of people talking. Because the library had been so quiet, they were wondering who would be coming in now. To see who it was, the three of them left what they were doing and went to go look.  
Arthur stepped out from the row he was in and could see the group of people that had just entered. There were four of them, among them a grinning man with spiky hair, a very tall and slightly scary looking man in glasses, a younger man who could have been no older than a teenager, and a very cheery-looking man. Arthur recognised them as Lukas' friends, Mathias, Berwald, Emil and Tino.  
Lukas came out of his row and the whole group turned to look at him.  
"Lukas! Hey!" called the grinning Dane, waving over to Lukas  
Berwald and Emil nodded in greeting, and Tino smiled brightly whilst also waving.  
"What are you all doing here?" asked Lukas, walking over to them  
"To see you of course!" replied Tino  
"We thought you might like to meet up with us during your lunch break", suggested Mathias  
"He can meet up with you now, we're not going to be busy today", said Antonio as he walked over to where everyone else was  
"Really? Would it be ok?" asked Lukas  
"Sure!" replied Antonio with his usual smile  
"Thank you", said Lukas  
The corners of the Norwegian boy's mouth turned up into a small smile, but it soon disappeared and turned into a sort of grimace as Mathias walked over and put his arm around Lukas' shoulders.  
"Great!" said Mathias, his mega-watt grin still present  
Although Lukas seemed annoyed with Mathias, everyone else there could tell that they both cared for eachother deeply.

Before they had gone out the door, Lukas took one last look back at Antonio and Arthur. He really wanted to know what had happen to Arthur, but spending time with his closest friends -and boyfriend- was more important to him, so he decided that he could be filled in with the details tomorrow.  
The group had now left, leaving only Arthur and Antonio in the building. Arthur was just about to walk away and continue his work, but stopped when Antonio spoke up.  
"So. What happened with your soulmate?"  
"Nothing." Arthur responded curtly  
"Come on Arthur, it's clear that something definitely happened"  
Knowing that Antonio would carry on asking about it until he gave in, Arthur sighed in defeat.  
"Fine, but we should go to the office, just incase anyone else overhears"  
Antonio nodded in reply and the two of them walked over to the room for employees only. Arthur entered the room first, then Antonio entered after him before closing the door behind him. Leaning with his back against the closed door, he waited for Arthur to talk. The Englishman sat down in a nearby chair, then began to tell Antonio what had happened.

Arthur told his Spanish friend the whole story, from the car crash to the current situation. When he was done, he looked up to Antonio, expecting him to offer some advice on what he should do.  
"Wow... I've never heard of that happening before. It was so simple when I met Lovi", said Antonio  
Arthur and Lukas had both begun to notice that Antonio brought up his Italian boyfriend Lovino a lot in conversations.  
"So", Antonio spoke again, "Do you have any idea who it could be?"  
"Well that's the problem, there's two possible people"  
"Ah, I see...", Antonio thought for a minute, "Well, here's something you could do. Next time you meet either of them, ask them about it. One of their clocks must have gone to zero, and whichever one it is has to be your soulmate!"  
"Good idea!" said Arthur, "Thank you, Antonio"  
"No problem", he replied with a smile

The two of them left the employee office and worked until lunchtime, then went back to the office for their break. Arthur usually left the library and went to a cafe or shop for lunch, so he was just there to get his coat, whilst Antonio usually brought a packed lunch.  
"Oh no! I must have left my lunch at home!" said Antonio as he searched through his bag.  
"Oh dear", said Arthur, "You're welcome to come along with me if you like"  
"That sounds like a good-"  
Antonio was interrupted by the sound of the main door loudly opening and closing, then quick-paced steps followed by the door to the office bursting open.  
A short, brown haired man with a strange curl sticking out to one side walked in and marched right up to Antonio.  
"Ah, Lovi!" said the Spaniard with a bright smile  
Lovino held out a brown paper bag at arms length and shoved it towards Antonio.  
"You forgot your lunch again", said Lovino, his strong Italian accent and irritable personality coming through in his voice  
"Sorry about that", laughed Antonio, "Thank you for bringing it"  
Antonio moved closer to Lovino and gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing the short Italian to go bright red in the face.  
"Aww, Lovi you look like a-"  
"Don't say it, don't you _fucking_ say it", growled Lovino  
Antonio just laughed, shaking his head as he did so.  
"I'd better be getting back to the restaurant. I'll see you later", said Lovino  
Even though it caused his cheeks to go even redder, Lovino quickly gave Antonio a kiss on the cheek, then ran off to hide the fact that he was going scarlet.

"I'll just have my lunch here, incase anyone comes in"  
"I suppose I'd better leave you to it then. See you in a bit", said Arthur, waving as he left  
"Take as long as you need", replied Antonio with a smile and a wave  
Arthur left the employee office and was walking through the main area of the library when he heard a couple of low thuds. They had come from a nearby row of books, and since he had thought that there wasn't anybody in the library besides himself and Antonio, Arthur wanted to investigate what it was. Walking past a couple of rows, Arthur found the row that the noise had come from and walked around the shelve into the small corridor between the bookshelves where he found someone kneeling down, picking up a small pile of books that they had dropped.  
"Here, let me help you with that", said Arthur kindly as he knelt down and began to pick up the books  
"Oh thank you", said the person  
The person kneeling down looked up from the pile of books and their eyes met Arthur's, giving him a surprise  
"Hello Matthew", greeted Arthur with a smile  
"Hi Arthur", said Matthew returning the smile  
"I didn't know that you were here, I would have said hello earlier if I did"  
"Really?" Matthew looked slightly confused, "I come here quite a lot"  
"A-ah..."  
Arthur had never noticed the boy come in here before, and felt embarrassed that he was only noticing him now. Then, remembering what Antonio had said, and also wanting to make it up to Matthew for not noticing him, Arthur offered up a suggestion.  
"I'm on my break just now, would you like to go and get something to eat somewhere?"  
"W-with you?"  
"Yes, but just if you'd like to, of course"  
"Of course", replied Matthew with a smile

The two of them left the library together in search of somewhere to stop and have something to eat. If Arthur hadn't met Matthew, he would have originally gone to the small cafe that was nearby the library and have some tea, but the cafe wasn't exactly the nicest or the cleanest, he only went there to save time, but this time Arthur wanted this to be more special, so they looked elsewhere.  
Eventually they found a cafe. Although it was small, it was beautiful and had a very friendly and welcoming vibe about it. Being the gentleman he was, Arthur held the door open for Matthew, then followed him inside. The pair found a table for two, then took their seats and began to look at their menu's.  
"What do you think you'll have?" asked Arthur  
"I think I'll just have a cup of tea. What about you?" Matthew replied  
"I think I'll have the same"  
The pair of them got up and walked to the counter to place their order.  
"Two cups of tea please", said Arthur to the young girl behind the counter  
"Sure", she said with a nod, "Anything else?"  
Arthur was about to say no, but then he noticed that Matthew was eyeing up some maple leaf-shaped biscuits.  
"And a couple of those biscuits please"  
"The maple ones?"  
"Yes, those ones", said Arthur with a smile  
"Arthur, you don't have to", said Matthew when he realised what Arthur was doing  
"Oh no, I insist", replied Arthur  
The girl behind the counter put two of the biscuits on to a small plate, then quickly and skilfully made two cups of tea before placing the two cups and the plate on to the counter. Arthur paid, despite Matthew insisting that they could go half and half, then they took the cups and plate back to their table, the pair of them taking their seats opposite of eachother. Arthur was just about to start drinking his tea when he noticed Matthew doing something that he thought was rather peculiar. The younger of the two of them appeared to be searching for something, he was patting down his pockets until his face suddenly lit up into a smile as his hand came into contact with the main pocket on his hoodie. To Arthur's surprise, Matthew then reached into his pocket and took out a small bottle of dark liquid.  
"Is that... Maple syrup?" asked Arthur inquisitively  
"Yep!" replied Matthew with a bright smile as he unscrewed the lid and began to pour some of the bottle's contents into his cup of tea  
"That's an, um, interesting thing to add to tea", said Arthur  
Matthew looked surprised, first of all because maple syrup in his tea was a completely normal thing for him, but then he remembered that putting maple syrup in beverages wasn't a very common thing elsewhere in the world. He felt embarrassed because he thought Arthur was going to think he was weird, and this embarrassment caused him to go red.  
"Oh sorry I just- sorry I wasn't thinking about where I was and what I was doing, IjustreallylikemapleI'msosor-" Matthew's speech was getting more rapid as he grew more flustered  
"It's alright", Arthur cut him off mid-apology, "You don't have anything to apologise for"  
Matthew relaxed and his breathing and speech became more steady  
"Thank you, sorry about that"  
"Matthew, you're doing nothing wrong, so you don't need to apologise"  
The only reply that came to Matthew's mind was "sorry", so he just nodded in response instead.

The conversation was mainly the two of them getting to know eachother. Arthur had many questions about Alfred, but he also really wanted to know about Matthew. There was a cute charm to his shyness and his quirks that Arthur couldn't deny.  
"So you always carry maple syrup with you?"  
"You never know when you might need it, so I always have a bottle at hand just incase", replied Matthew  
Laughing and chatting the two of them finished their tea and biscuits, but instead of leaving and going back to the library, they remained seated and continued talking to eachother.

As the conversation went on, and they knew eachother more, they were beginning to feel like they'd known eachother for years. Although he hadn't brought up the problem with his soulmate clock, Arthur opened up to Matthew about other things in his life, and in return, Matthew began to leave his shyness behind and appeared to talk more confidently to Arthur.  
The more they talked, the more Arthur was certain that Matthew was his soulmate. He felt a really strong connection forming between the two of them.

Because all of his attention had been focused on Matthew, Arthur hadn't even realised where the cafe was. Really, it was strange that he never noticed they had gone back through the streets and paths that Arthur normally took to work, and it was even stranger that Arthur had never noticed where exactly this cafe was, but as soon as something caught his eye, the realisation struck him. He had only broken his gaze away from Matthew for a second, and in that second his gaze had wandered to the other side of the road, where he saw a colourful and very familiar display.  
Although he was sure that his soulmate was Matthew, Arthur still couldn't say for definite, and wanted to keep his option with the Frenchman open, so he decided that they'd better leave shortly before they were seen. Of course, he didn't tell this to Matthew, that would be incredibly rude and inconsiderate. Instead he decided to bring about the subject of leaving in a more subtle way.  
"Matthew, do you have the time on you?" asked Arthur  
"Yeah", said Matthew, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "it's ten to three"  
Arthur thought that when Matthew checked the time, he'd have been able to see what time his soulmate-clock was at, but he had forgotten that most people used their phones instead of their watches, therefore he couldn't get a proper look. He was also surprised at what time it was, they'd been talking for ages and had let time slip away, his break had ended over an hour ago!  
"Oh gosh, Arthur, your work! I'm so sorry, I've kept you here too long. I hope you don't get into trouble at work, I'm really really sorry-" Matthew was beginning to panic  
"Matthew, there's no need to get into a flap", Arthur interrupted him, he didn't want Matthew to feel bad, "It was a really slow day at the library today, Antonio said that I could take as long a lunch break as I wanted. And besides, I've enjoyed spending time with you today"  
"I've enjoyed spending time with you too", said Matthew with a smile  
"But I think that it is time that I probably should be getting back to work", Arthur said as he stood up  
"Ok, we should do this again sometime", suggested Matthew  
"Definitely", agreed Arthur, "Are you coming back to the library?"  
"Yeah, there were a couple of books that I was planning on taking out, so I'll probably go and pick them up now", said Matthew as he stood up

The pair began to make their way back to the library, but before they left, Arthur stole another glance over to the flower shop to check for any signs that they had been seen by the Frenchman. The shop had a few customers in it, so Arthur assumed that he had been too busy to see them. Feeling relieved, he walked with Matthew back to the library. However, Arthur didn't realise just how wrong he was.


End file.
